


ghostzone escapees

by Cartara



Series: The DP and MHA crossover works [3]
Category: Danny Phantom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Dimension Travel, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Portals, Stuck in another dimension, big on the hurt, danny gets stuck in the mha world with cujo and has to get back home without any help, it sounds very depressing when i type out these tags it's not that bad lmao, salty narration, small on the comfort, sorry - Freeform, yes that's the first tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25875163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cartara/pseuds/Cartara
Summary: It was not unusual for Danny to mess up.He’d done plenty of stupid things in his years of superhero-ing, ranging from sneaking out and getting caught by his parents to ending up fighting the Ghost King. And even though Vlad had been the one to cause that, Danny had to step up and take care of it. Which had, now that he thought about it, happened a few times before. Someone messing up and him taking care of it. But usually, it was just him.Hating Christmas, challenging Dash, losing a present, getting jealous, ‘stealing’ the Infi-Map, cheating… The ghosts and the Ghost Zone had, unsurprisingly, been the cause of the remainder of incidents. The fact that it was the cause of his problem now wasn’t special.Cujo had escaped again, his toy nowhere nearby for him to be looking for, so Danny had had to use the thermos on the poor puppy. He hadn’t been happy to be locked inside the invention, but Danny knew he could be quick if he used the portal that Cujo had used to escape the Ghost Zone.What was supposed to be a shortcut home from a fight at the edge of the city, a fast flight home to avoid missing curfew, quickly turned into a weekend-long trip.Great.Had he mentioned portals yet?
Relationships: Cujo & Danny Fenton
Series: The DP and MHA crossover works [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690483
Comments: 77
Kudos: 436





	ghostzone escapees

**Author's Note:**

> not related to energy or the alternate ending, but a spin on what could have happened if danny got stuck in the mha world

Danny found himself staring up at a twilight sky.

Which, firstly, was just stupid, because there were no stars anymore, and second, he was supposed to be getting a move on things. He was not about to sit through another worried-yet-mad preach from his mom, only to have his dad try and dampen the punishment down, resulting in a longer period of either no movie nights at Sam’s or a ban on hanging out with Tucker at the arcade. Maybe Jazz would get involved as well, not unlike last time.

‘ _She means well_ ,’ Danny thought to himself with a chuckle before he put his elbows on the ground below him and pushed himself into a sitting position.

His vision swam for a moment, and he blinked to get the black and purple spots out of his eyes. The Thermos clipped to his belt clicked as the edge made contact with the rooftop he was on, and the content didn’t seem too happy with the sudden movement. “Sorry little guy, but I _really_ can’t let you out right now.” Not while he wasn’t in the Ghost Zone, and certainly not while he didn’t know where he was. Earth? Probably. Amity? Definitely not.

It was too…modern. Too clean.

And too _Asian_.

Putting his hands on his hips and one foot on the edge, Danny looked over the city he had been violently thrown into. “Stupid portals…” he muttered before going invisible and hopping off the edge. As he flew between the buildings in the hope of finding some readable clues as to where he was, he checked his gear. Fenton Thermos was operational, as Cujo was still inside. _That_ would’ve been a problem. He fished the Fenton Phones out of his pockets and found himself looking at blackened iron and smoking wires. “Yeah, _nope_.”

He dropped them into a bin at a relatively empty streetcorner and ascended back to the height of the third floor, sitting cross-legged with his head in his hands. Cujo bustled around in the Thermos, and he patted it as if it would help calm him down.

There was no English to be seen, and suddenly appearing next to a passerby on the walkway asking for directions in another language wouldn’t be beneficial for leaving without interrupting anything. Not that Clockwork had told him that, but he’d seen enough time-travel movies and alternate-dimension sci-fi to just _know_.

He had to get out. Quickly and quietly.

And then an alarm went off. Danny sighed as the doors to the store flew open and watched how a man ran out of a convenience store with a big bag.

“It’s my lucky day, isn’t it?”

Cujo whined from inside the Thermos as if to agree.

He dropped down to the streets, still invisible, and watched the man flee. The guy seemed surprised by the alarm and was obviously swearing as he bolted through the streets in an attempt to get away from the incoming police, that had no doubt already been called.

Not that Danny was going to wait around for the boys in blue to show up. Danny sped through the streets to be in front of the man. A small ectoblast near the fugitive’s feet was enough to get him to stumble and fall flat on his face on the pavement. Danny cringed at the impact and floated closer to the man to assess the damage, and most importantly, whether he was going to run or not.

A single shout from the other side of the street made Danny and the man turn their heads toward the sound. There was a man, in a blue suit and a brown helmet looking like wood on his head and over his face, running at them. Danny blinked at the guy so intent on getting to them, or the fugitive since Danny was still invisible.

“Idiot,” he couldn’t help but mutter.

Branches extended from his arms and he reached to capture the running man. The thief, in his turn, shot some of the gravel from between the cracks of the pavement with a flick of his hand towards the still charging guy, but he dodged them before wrapping the branches (his arms, apparently?) around the man and setting him on the floor.

Danny blinked.

Branch Man seemed to be reading the thief his rights, or something like that, and the cops showed up to take him over. Reporters and fans, Danny filled in, surrounded Branch Man, who seemed to be happily summarizing what had just happened.

Danny blinked again.

When the cameras started to stop flashing and the guy left, Danny was left alone, hanging in the air where _that had just really happened holy_ ** _shit_**.

“What the _hell_.”

* * *

The giant billboards were also in the Asian language --Danny didn’t dare guess which one it was-- but the video and tone of the presenters were enough to go by. The Branch Man was on the news, his capture of the thief the most important thing to have happened that day, apparently. The word ‘hero’ was mentioned a few times, but Danny didn’t think it was just a title Branch Man was granted after today. He seemed to be too confident of himself handling a thief and the press.

Another thing Danny found notable was that the guy on the billboard had a freaking horn on his forehead, and didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest.

The feed from the studio was cut off and replaced by a shaky video someone had taken of the thief. It had to have been shot just before Danny had interfered because the guy was still running. The person that shot the video was yelling things as they filmed the man.

Until a green thing made an impact with the walkway, completely visible on the steadying video.

Danny found himself looking at a slow-motion of _his_ ectoblast, taking up the gigantic full screen of the billboard in the middle of the busiest street he’d ever seen. He clutched the Thermos between his hands to have some connection to the real world.

He’d _royally_ screwed up.

He clipped the Thermos back onto his belt and fled from the busy city-center.

* * *

It took him the whole morning and the better half of the afternoon to get out of the city center.

There were hills on the outskirts of the town, and it seemed to be the most expensive area to live in. There was a _monstrous_ glass building in a strange shape towering over everything below, a wall surrounding the entire thing and a huge patch of land around it.

Yeah, that was not the place to be.

‘ _Expensive places have security,_ ’ Danny thought as he sped past the building and towards the fields and woods that lay just outside the perimeter of the (what was most likely an) office building.

There were people on the field inside the walls, working out and training. Almost sparring, it seemed like. Two of them were facing off within a small field chalked out on the gravel, and Danny didn’t _dare_ to halt his flight for a few seconds to hover above them and kept flying, but he did keep an eye on what was happening.

There was a referee completely in black standing next to the field, probably laying down rules. He held up a hand and let it come down, and the two people shot towards each other. One of them was using explosions and the other had green lightning surrounding him.

“Sure, why not,” Danny said. “This world is already so goddamn weird.”

Taking his eyes off the fight for even three seconds proved to be a mistake. One of the explosions that was, possibly, meant to be an attack towards the other had been redirected upwards, where no one was supposed to be.

Lucky him.

He could _just_ yelp and throw up a shield just below him as he halted his flight, the flames scorching past him and nipping at his suit. Two whole seconds later, it stopped, but Danny didn’t dare drop the shield. He looked down at the people on the ground, found them looking at him, and cursed. Dropping the shield, he went invisible and intangible again.

And forgot about the Thermos.

The thing dropped from his belt as the clasps phased through each other and Danny stared at it before diving after it. “Great job, Fenton!” he scolded himself as he sped towards the ground. He managed to catch the damned thing, hide it with his invisibility and slowed down until he was hovering inches from the floor, in the middle of the field.

The people turned out to be teens in sports uniforms, and even though they couldn’t see him, he felt strangely exposed. Probably because the thing they had just seen drop towards them suddenly vanished. Oh, and because there had been _something_ green and glowing above them as well.

_Royally_. Screwed.

The referee had stepped forwards and was scanning the area, his eyes passing over (or through, in this case) Danny without a hitch. He muttered something to the two kids that had been fighting, and they both shrugged.

Not that Danny was gonna wait around to be noticed by them. He took off from the ground, stirring up the sand (idiot, idiot--) and continued his escape towards the woods.

* * *

The Thermos was rattling.

Which meant either of two things. One, Cujo had suddenly become a higher level on the Ecto-Scale and had had enough of the confinement of the Thermos, _or_ the Thermos was running out of power, and the puppy somehow _knew_ that.

Both were bad.

Danny looked at the cylinder shake in its place on the grass in front of him as he leaned back against a tree with his arms and legs crossed. He could almost hear Cujo whine inside, and the idea of letting him out for a few minutes was starting to get more and more appealing. “I can’t, Cujo,” he sighed as he put his head in his hands, elbows now on his knees.

“Stupid portals,” Danny grumbled, and he went to lie on his back to look at the sky change colors into a gorgeous orange and pink sunset. The exhaustion of holding onto his ghost form the whole day was pulsing in his not-bones. But could he risk transforming back? Suddenly feeling hungry and even more tired wasn’t something he was looking forward to. But staying like this all night?

The rings washed over his body before he could decide and he was left in his jeans and t-shirt. “Good thing it’s summer here,” he huffed before rolling onto his side, casting one last glance at the Thermos standing a foot away. He pointed at the Thermos and said, “Behave,” as if it would keep Cujo inside all night.

But it wouldn’t hurt to try.

* * *

An alarm clock was never a favorite of Danny’s, and neither was a school bell. To have them combine would create an abomination that would forever haunt him.

And still, the universe had the absolute _audacity_ to do exactly that.

The hellish sound stopped after a good three seconds, but it left Danny with eyes wide open and heart racing. Blinking, he realized where he was, and groaned. He moaned and sat up to stretch his arms above his head. With his joints popping, he dared to look at the Thermos. It was still standing upright, no dents anywhere on the outer shell of metal. The light was also still green, meaning something was inside.

Danny was about to reach for the Thermos when he heard footsteps come closer. Someone was patrolling the area. The overkill on security was starting to annoy Danny. An unfamiliar language reached his ears and he had barely enough time to grab the Thermos and turn both it and himself invisible.

A...coat stepped into view. Thin prosthetics padded over the grass as narrow white eyes in a black mask with simply enormous dental works scanned the area. The guy was talking to someone over what had to be comms and walked right past Danny without as much as slowing his pace. He kept talking as well and disappeared between the other trees and bushes.

Only after a minute of silence did Danny dare to drop his invisibility and stand up. “Crazy world, this one.”

The Thermos rattled violently in his hand. ‘ _Someone’s awake,_ ’ Danny thought as he struggled to keep the Thermos from falling. The light was blinking red. Empty battery.

He just had the time to exclaim a curse before the Thermos slipped from his hand, clattered onto the ground and Cujo appeared. And unfortunately, the dog wasn’t happy to see Danny. Crushing the remainder of the Thermos below his paw, the now enormous dog slowly walked towards Danny. Cujo let out a low and gruff bark, pushed him onto the ground with his nose, and towered over Danny, who had transformed.

“Down, boy,” he more asked than ordered as he held up one arm to put between himself and Cujo’s teeth. “I was just trying to help, okay?”

A rustling of the leaves coming from his right made Danny look in that direction, and at spotting edges of the brown coat the man who’d just passed between the greens, he sighed. “Wanna play fetch, boy?” Danny pleaded as he took a Fenton Lipstick from his belt and waved it at the dog.

Cujo seemed to want to play, putting his front paws down on the floor before him and wagging his tail. “Go fetch!” Danny yelled, and he threw it to his left. Cujo ran after the thing just as Coat Guy spotted it. The man dropped his phone and stared at the retreating dog, and then spotted Danny getting up. Danny grimaced.

He turned invisible as he took off after Cujo and left the man to stand in the woods.

* * *

It didn’t take long to find the dog running left and right, turning corners to chase the Lipstick that kept rolling. They were out of the woods by now, Cujo running over luckily empty red bricks of the streets. It was too late for anyone to still be leaving for work and too early for anyone to be on a break, so Danny wasn’t too worried about running into students that seemed to live in the communal campus buildings.

Unless, of course, there were students idiotic enough to have slept through their alarms.

A blond kid was sprinting towards the big glass building, and Cujo ran right past him. The kid yelped, flailed, and fell onto his knees with a shout of confusion. Danny flew right past him, sending him sprawling onto the pavement with the speed he was going at. “Sorry!” he yelled back.

Cujo had left the Lipstick for what it was and had started sniffing around in the bushes just outside the big walls of what he hoped was the back of the school.

Danny panted as he picked the weapon back up, checked to see if it was broken, and pocketed it before dropping his invisibility. Tail morphing back into feet, he walked over to Cujo with his arms crossed. “Now _how_ am I gonna get you back home?”

The Thermos was nothing more than a busted pile of metal and circuits he didn’t know how to assemble, and it was probably also taken by Coat Guy. He must have had called it in by now, so either police or more people with powers were gonna show up very soon to track them down.

Danny sat down in the grass and glared at the cause of their current predicament.

No Thermos, no way to get information, no way back home, and possibly the national security team trying to track their every move. _Great_.

Cujo came trotting back to Danny with a stick in his mouth and plopped down on top of the teen, causing Danny to lose the breath in his lungs before patting the dog on his side. “Yeah, you’re just a big idiot, huh?”

The giant let out out a low grumble and kept munching on the stick.

Finding a way home was gonna be a lot more difficult than it had been all those other times. No Infinity Map, no Clockwork, no Wulf, no nothing. Not even a clue in what universe or year he was. But what was he to do? Wait it out in hopes of Sam and Tucker finding him a way out? Vlad? The Observants even, maybe? A natural portal?

Danny put his arms under his head and looked at the dog. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas?” Cujo yawned, poofed back to puppy form, and promptly fell asleep on Danny’s lap. “That’s what I thought.”

Maybe the government had some fancy tech they could use to make a portal. Danny had seen the blueprints a few times, but he doubted that would be enough. And that was only in the case those people wanted to help him, and not try to blast him out of the sky. Was he willing to take that risk? Who knew who was in charge around where he was, and what their opinions were like on people like him.

A shout Danny could only assume was being directed at him made him turn his head to yet another guy. This one was wearing a cape, a cowboy hat, a gas mask, and some very funky boots Sam would appreciate. Retro Indiana Jones was _also_ holding a revolver and was pointing it at him. It wasn’t a very nice way to introduce oneself.

Danny also found that being held at gunpoint immediately after being seen was just plain rude.

Deciding against answering with finger guns Danny put his hands up from where he was laying and pointed at the sleeping puppy with one hand. The man seemed confused for a second but didn’t lower his gun. He said something Danny couldn’t make sense of and Danny sighed. “Look, I don’t speak whatever language you’re using.”

Indiana didn’t like that. He moved his gun as to say Danny had to do something. Danny could only sigh back. “I don’t know what you want from me.” More gibberish, another movement from his gun, and a second hand pointing somewhere. Danny wanted to just gonna grab Cujo, get up, and leave.

The loud bang of a shot being fired triggered Danny into activating intangibility and the bullet lodged into the dirt where his shoulder would have been. “Dude! Not cool!” he angrily exclaimed, clutching Cujo tighter in his arms as he sat up. Grateful for his quick reflexes he decided to glare at the guy, who was now panicking. Danny _did_ avoid getting shot by someone clearly confident in his abilities with a gun.

“Are we done?” Danny said more to himself than to Mr. Jones. With Cujo still in his arms and mood set at ‘no thanks’, he stood up and stepped back until he was with his back to the wall. The man was gripping his gun with both of his hands now, more words spoken at either him of someone he had on call. Danny didn’t care. “Because I am. Bye.”

He stepped through the wall.

Cujo didn’t enjoy going intangible and passing through something. The puppy started writhing in Danny’s arms until he’d scratched him with his nails, resulting in Danny cursing and letting go of Cujo. The dog dropped on all four legs and growled at Danny. “Don’t look at me like that,” Danny reprimanded with an accusing finger. “This is _your_ fault.”

The puppy yapped at Danny, who started walking by the wall in hopes of finding a good place to hide out for the day. He could check out the school at night to see if they had some crazy stuff in some hidden labs. At this point, it wasn’t unlikely they had some crazy inventor at the school. “Are you coming or not?”

* * *

Cujo had napped enough to be full of energy to play yet again. The puppy was running around Danny, who just wanted to take a nap. Danny swatted at the dog as he tried to lick his face and groaned in exhaustion as Cujo managed to avoid the hand and jump right on top of Danny again.

Danny was _tired_. He’d been constantly moving for a day and a half without any good rest, was keeping an eye on Cujo at the same time, _and_ he was trying to figure out how to get back. There was no help yet, and it also probably wouldn’t come.

Cujo barked in Danny’s ear, causing him to sit straight up and point in a random direction. “Go play somewhere _else_. _Please_.”

Surprisingly enough, Cujo went away. The puppy ran between the trees, yapping softly at something before he disappeared behind some bushes. Danny held his breath for a good twenty seconds before he dared to close his eyes and lay down on the grass.

Silence.

_Finally_.

Cujo seemed to be capable of following orders after all, surprisingly enough. But Danny still didn’t have a single clue of how Cujo had managed to escape the Ghost Zone and end up causing trouble without a clear cause. And then there was the fact that that stupid portal --which, now that he thought about it, hadn’t been green but purple-- had _just so happened_ to open up in front of him while he was in an already tight spot. Coincidences happened, but not like this.

Not to him.

There was an alarm. Danny groaned, sat up, and rubbed at his eyes. He was _so_ _close_ to falling asleep and taking a nice nap, but no. “Why must you do this?” he exasperatedly asked aloud. To who? He didn’t know.

The image of Cujo being captured by the security of the school suddenly flashed in his mind.

Panic overtook him as he transformed and sped off towards the building. Why had he told Cujo to go away? It wasn’t Cujo’s fault they were here. It was that stupid portal’s fault. The puppy had had nothing to do with it. Wrong place, wrong time.

A pang of guilt shot through Danny as he saw the students gather outside of the building, some of them looking pretty shaken up. Some of the older ones were directing the younger children towards the gravel fields behind the school, others were standing in defense of them. Danny passed invisibly over them before ducking into the building.

The pristine white halls were a mingling of students evacuating and teachers directing them. There was a dirt trail leading around some corners, and Danny followed it until he came to see Cujo angrily having a stand-off with the Coat Guy from earlier. Fantastic. The man was talking to the dog as if to calm him down, but Cujo just growled and charged at him.

“Cujo! No!” Danny yelled as he flew over to the dog, dropped his invisibility, grabbed his collar, and pulled. “Down, boy!” His eyes just met the Coat Guy’s before Cujo ripped through his grip and pounced. The man just managed to roll out of the way and deliver a kick with one of his prosthetics to the side of Cujo’s ribcage. Cujo turned to look at the guy again, everything about his posture screaming ‘attack’.

Danny was quick to float between the two to stop them from attacking each other. “Cujo! _Down_!” The dog seemed to be aware of Danny and his eyes flickered from the man, who was looking at Danny with a glint in his eyes, back to Danny. “ _I’m_ _sorry_ , Cujo. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Please, let’s get out of here.”

Cujo relaxed from his attacking pose and curiously sniffed at Danny’s hand, which was extended to him. “Please. Let’s just leave. I’ll get you a new toy.” The last word was enough for Cujo to completely lose interest in Coat Guy and puff back to his puppy form. He jumped into Danny’s arm with a happy yap.

_‘That is one problem less,’_ Danny thought as he stroked Cujo’s fur. ‘ _Now for the next one.’_ He slowly turned while backing up, Coat Guy’s eyes not once leaving his form. “I’m gonna leave,” he said, not knowing if it had any use. “I’m sorry.” The sentence seemed to register, and the man eased out of a battle pose. Not entirely, but Danny didn’t blame him.

Coat Guy slowly spoke something over his comms and gestured for Danny to keep calm. ‘ _Sit down.’_

Danny didn’t want to stick around and get in trouble. He had to get home. No matter what. Doing a little bow, he turned invisible. The guy let out a shout of surprise and started frantically shouting into his comm before running into a certain direction. Danny cringed and decided it was time to leave.

* * *

The students were outside near the building’s back, and Danny passed over them slowly. He felt kind of bad for having them evacuate because of him, but it wouldn’t kill anyone. Evacuating had been the better option, compared to letting the students roam the halls and bump into Cujo. Said dog seemed to be comfortable enough high in the air to let himself be carried, but he did keep a wary eye on his surroundings. Danny couldn’t blame him-- being dropped from this height wouldn’t be good for anyone.

The radio system sprung to life with a little chime before a high-pitched voice rang over the speakers around the school. Students were dead quiet before suddenly moving aside to create a path for someone. Probably a teacher. Danny didn’t care. He sped up and made a break for it.

What happened next was something Danny would not remember and never forget. One second he was steadily cruising with Cujo in his arms, the next there was pain everywhere, and then he was falling. He couldn’t get his limbs to move, his invisibility to stay up, his eyes to focus. He couldn’t stop Cujo from slipping from his hands, couldn’t stop people looking at him, couldn’t stop his fall.

One second there was air, the next there was solid ground.

Danny just managed to roll over his shoulder instead of landing on his legs and shattering them, but it left him flat on his back and eyes to the sky. He had a funny sense of deja vu from when he arrived, only this time, he wasn’t alone, and there were stakes.

He’d dropped Cujo.

Barely managing to get his elbows and palms on the ground, Danny turned his head to look for the green puppy. A very giant and very alone dog was staring at him from a good distance. But at least he’d survived. Danny wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he’d let Cujo get hurt, or worse--

The ground around the dog rose and he was trapped within a concrete block. Danny blinked at the sudden whatever-the-hell-it-was and had half a mind to turn his head towards the crowd.

There was a _crowd_.

People were _staring_ at him.

There was some muttering among them, and some even seemed to be ready to fight should Danny make a move. (Not that he really could, but they didn’t know that.) Two men --the referee in all black from the day before, and a guy with a killer haircut and a very prominent preference for black leather jackets-- were talking to each other and seemed to be deciding on the best course of action.

They were going to catch him, weren’t they?

Referee Insomniac spoke up, presumably to Danny, but he didn’t even bother to let him finish. “I don’t speak whatever the hell you’re talking. _Please_ , tell me _someone_ knows English.”

A look was passed between the two before the blond one half-yelled, “What’s your name, Listener?”

“Thank fuck,” Danny muttered as he got a grip over his limbs and sat up. “It’s Danny. Now please let my dog go and tell me what the hell is going on over here.”

“I’m afraid you’re gonna have to answer some questions before we can do that,” he replied. It seemed fair in his eyes, probably, but Danny wasn’t feeling like explaining anything to anyone at the moment. “If you tell us what you’re doing here and how you do what you do, we’ll consider letting you go.”

_Hell_ no.

“Sorry, no time. Busy schedule,” Danny said as he shakily stood up, blowing the white hair out of his eyes. _Maybe_ he needed a haircut. “It was nice talking to you, Mr. Bowie, but I’m afraid I’m gonna cut our conversation short. See you around.”

The second he tried to activate his invisibility he collapsed again, arms colliding with the gravel in an attempt to keep his head intact. Danny’s vision swam and he felt like throwing up. Again? Really? Deciding to _not_ try to get up, he glared at the two adults that had now stepped forward from the group. They were trying to protect their students by turning themselves into a separate target.

Not cool. He wasn’t even planning on attacking anyone.

Well, unless they were trying to hurt someone.

Which, at the moment, was just him. Self-defence was a universal thing, right?

“I don’t know what you think I’m gonna do,” Danny managed to croak out, and it seemed to surprise both of them, “but I swear on the remainder of my life I just want my dog back and I’ll leave. Promise.”

“You’re a lot stronger than you look,” Bowie noted, “but we can’t just let you leave. You get that, right?”

“What did I do _wrong_?” Danny snapped as he sat back up again. The two tensed and he made a mental note to not move or show just how stubborn he was in getting back up onto his feet. It seemed to scare them. “I came here through some wacky portal that was all the wrong colors, and then I just looked around for a way to go home. Cujo-- the dog you have trapped somehow, I haven’t forgotten that-- broke free and I’m just trying to catch him so you don’t have to. I just wanna get the dog and go _home_.”

“And where is this home of yours?”

“Amity Park, Illinois. _America_.”

“And you got here through a portal?”

“Yeah. Where is ‘ _here_ ’, by the way?”

They shared another look before Insomniac nodded. Bowie turned back to him. “Mustafa. Japan.”

Danny blinked. _Japan_. He had gone a quarter around the globe and possibly traveled between dimensions. But how? And what the hell was going on with every single person having superpowers? “And what are the laws here to make everyone I come across want to attack me?”

“Illegal and unregistered Quirk use,” the Insomniac cut in. Nice to know he had been paying attention. “You broke a lot of laws in the time you’ve been here, kid.”

“I’m eighteen,” Danny snapped. “And I don’t know how you people expect me to know the laws of a country I’ve never been in, in a dimension that’s a couple away from my own? And another thing, what’s a quirk?”

Before either of them could reply, some victorious sound resonated through the air before a figure dropped from the sky. The man was _humongous_. One big mass of muscles, an interesting haircut, and very, _very_ white teeth. “Fear not, for I am here!”

Dear Lord.

Insomniac threw some Japanese over his shoulder without really looking at the man, to which the giant replied with an interesting tone to his voice. Bowie cut in here and there, and Danny felt like he was being watched through a one-way mirror.

“You’re all very rude.”

“You said you’re from a different dimension?” Insomniac still had his hands in his pockets, but there was a fierce glint in his eyes that told Danny the man wouldn’t hesitate to deck him.

“I think so. I mean, where I’m from people don’t have superpowers. Usually, that is.”

“And you’re from America?”

“He already told us that, All Might,” Insomniac sighed.

Finally, a name. A weird superhero wannabe name, but it was something.

“You must understand I have some knowledge of the States, Eraser. Perhaps I can help this young man--”

“Mic and I have this under control. You can help reassure the students and get them back inside.”

There was the opportunity he’d been looking for. They were arguing. He turned invisible and started floating towards Cujo. High speed was risky since he could be spotted easier, and he wasn’t sure if he even could. The students were (probably) trying to alarm the three of his escape, but they were too busy arguing to hear it.

“We got this, Number One. You go inside.”

Danny could just make out the words as he reached the box made of asphalt and gravel and went to the side where no one could see him. Dropping his invisibility and putting himself on the ground, he started looking for an opening. “Cujo? Can you hear me, boy?”

A soft bark. Puppy form, then.

“Can you pop through? I don’t want to phase myself in and both of us back out if I don’t have to. Can you try?” There was a popping sound from within the concrete cube, followed by a slow whine. “That’s a no…” Danny mumbled.

Danny didn’t trust himself with his intangibility at that moment. He was unstable as shit ever since landing, and getting stuck halfway through an object wasn’t fun. “Ectoblast it is,” he muttered, letting his fist glow neon green.

The concrete exploded into small fragments as the sides fell on the ground, Cujo happily jumping at Danny, who caught him and went invisible immediately. The three men had noticed (obviously, he hadn’t been particularly careful) and were now running towards him.

The Insomniac Referee was sprinting ahead with weird goggles now over his eyes, his scarf fluttering behind him before it _shot forward_. Danny went visible and tangible against his will and panicked, ducking out of the way and rolling sideways with Cujo in his arms. The puppy jumped out of his arms before he was completely back on his feet again, and stood between Danny and Insomniac Referee.

Danny poked his head out from behind Cujo to see the man observing the now giant dog. “You can’t escape, Danny,” he said, though he didn’t exactly sound convinced. “There are people out there who won’t give you a chance to surrender to take you in. Come with us, and you can explain what you think happened, and then we’ll help you get back to your home.”

“And why would I trust you when all you've done is attack me and my dog?” Danny shot back. “Seriously, you people have _issues_ over here.”

“I’m well aware, thank you,” Insomniac sighed. “Last chance, kid. Surrender or face the consequences.”

“How considerate. I think I’d made it clear I don’t wanna. So how about you just leave me the hell alone. I’ve done _nothing_ wrong!”

“Maybe not in your eyes, but you’ve broken a lot of laws, kid.”

Insomniac signed to somewhere to the side, and Danny didn’t have time to look before a force slammed into Cujo. The dog flew to the side and landed a good distance away, whining loudly. Danny looked at him with concern before shooting a murderous glare towards Bowie, who was apparently the cause of the force. “Dude!”

“Sorry kid! You left us with no choice!” He seemed actually sorry as he yelled it over the distance between them. “We’re the Heroes and you’re the possible threat.”

“I don’t have time for this!” Danny yelled angrily, the three men freezing in their places with adrenalin and maybe anticipation. Who knew. “I have a curfew, people who are worried I might’ve died because I’ve vanished and can’t get home, and that’s all _your_ fault--” he pointed in the general direction of the three men and glared, eyes lighting up-- “and can’t even hear me out on this because you’re busy attacking me!

“All you people have done is look at my like I’m the enemy, and you didn’t even bother asking me if I was okay or if things were alright! You just assumed I was going to attack you people, and based on what!? The fact that I stopped a criminal? That I didn’t turn myself in as I entered a new dimension, completely lost? That I freaked when you pointed a gun at my head? When you trapped my dog?

“Oh, I wonder _why_ I refuse to be captured by the people who have done all these things to me? Who knows what your plans are with me!? You’ve been attacking me non-stop and now you expect me to go with you? You haven’t done anything good to me and haven’t deserved a fraction of my trust!

“I just wanna go home!”

The Wail was something Danny had never been particularly good at controlling. He avoided using it most of the time because it was both very destructive as well as absolutely draining. At full power, at least, which it was, most of the time. Apparently he’d learned a new thing.

His shout was accompanied by a bit of ghostly energy, making an energy pulse cut through the air. The sand came off of the ground and surged towards the bystanders at a high speed, making them cover their faces in shock. Danny spotted some new faces, including Branch Man and Coat Guy again. Retro Jones wouldn’t be too far behind as well, and Danny didn’t want to go about dodging bullets again.

Danny stared at the settling dust with wide eyes and regret. Great. Now they thought he was dangerous. Which he _was_ , but that was not the _point_. “Look, I know how this seems, but--”

“I think we’ve seen enough,” All Might said as he stepped past Bowie, keeping a ‘safe’ distance between himself and Danny. The man crossed his arms and stared Danny down with these impossibly dark eyes, a fierce glint boring straight through him. God, when was the last time he felt this intimidated? Vlad? Pariah? Or was it his mother? _Sam_? “Get inside, Danny. _Now_.”

“You kid-- you’re not _listening_ to me,” Danny pleaded as he looked around. Where was Cujo? Surely, he would have done something by now if he was able to. Danny didn’t see him laying where Bowie had pushed him to, but there wasn’t a concrete prison either. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to close him in behind the students, were they?

“You’re attacking me without telling me why, you’ve stolen my dog, and you’re turning this into a publicity stunt. Maybe, I wouldn’t have been such a _‘problem’_ if you’d just talked to me instead of attacking me. You’re not setting a good example for those kids.” Also, why were they still here? Shouldn’t the school have herded them back inside by now? _Unless_ they thought there was still a threat inside. Which there _wasn’t_ , because it’d been _them_ , but still.

“You’ve had your chances, young man.”

All Might dropped into a crouch, and Danny only caught the word ‘smash’ before he dashed forward.

* * *

Danny’s hands trembled around All Might’s fist, the Smash he’d loudly announced stopped short by the teen. The man stared with big eyes at Danny, who had tears gathering in his eyes.

He was _so_ _tired_.

This is not what he’d wanted, _dammit_. He just wanted Cujo back in his Thermos, safe, and get away from this strange world and its craziness. There was just too much going on. Heroes, villains, Quirks… It was too much. A few crazy ghostly individuals with powers back in Amity was more than enough to keep busy, and even though Danny didn’t need or want to interfere here, the crimes didn’t wait. He couldn’t just _do nothing_ to save people when they needed him.

He wished he’d taken the long route home that day. Take Cujo back to the Ghost Zone via the basement. Accept the preach when he got upstairs from the basement, accept his mom’s worry, his dad’s assurances it was okay, his sister’s ruffle of his hair. He’d accept the punishment, the house arrest, the boredom.

Anything to have avoided all of this.

Tears ran down Danny’s cheeks and he ground his teeth as his muscles started twitching with the constant pressure All Might was still holding against him. “Why can’t you just let me _go_?” he yelled, frustration and exhaustion taking over his voice.

All Might trying to get his hand back was all the impulse he needed to pull his arm back and just _cry_.

The Wail hit the hero head-on, but he stood his ground for a few seconds before being pushed back. The other ‘heroes’ that had been called as back-up and the students disappeared to the background of his perception, emotions rendering him useless to do anything except fall onto his knees and wail it out.

Danny hated it here. Suspicion, distrust, violence. It was all over the place, seeping through the streets and nestling in houses. The people were tense, always on edge, always ready to run from a fight. The heroes might be trying their best, but they were failing. They chased Danny all over town for over a day while all he wanted to do was leave, and meanwhile, other people who had actual bad intentions were running rampant.

He was vaguely aware of a movement somewhere around him, before the scream died in his throat, his breathing hitched and he collapsed on his side. His right arm lay under him at an awkward angle, enough to hurt, but not to cause any serious damage. The other was clawing at the gravel. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t do _anything and oh God people were moving and there were tears and his eyes and now he_ ** _couldn’t see and_** _\--_

Drowning wasn’t something that had happened to him, but if it ever happened, Danny supposed it would feel like this. Not moving, feeling like you’re floating and falling at the same time, senses slowly fading, consciousness slipping. And then the dark clouds coming into your vision, throat constricting, the pain ebbing away and just waiting for those black clouds to become everything because anything was better than this excruciating state of being between alive and dead and oh _no_ the portal _had_ been connected to the power grid and he’d turned it **_on_** _\--_

A scream, a string of words he didn’t recognize, and the blockade stopped. A sharp pain shot through his chest and he cried out, trying to roll up, sending the hot sting into the rest of his body. His hands shook, scraping against the gravel and sand of the fields.

A hand hovered near him. He could _feel_ it. Danny gasped as the pain slowly dissipated and his vision got clearer as he blinked the tears out. His body shook along with the sobs escaping his throat. The hand finally decided to land softly on his shoulder, and nothing had ever been more grounding. He gasped and moved away from the palm squeezing him, and the hand retracted with a hasty “shit”.

Danny couldn’t turn to see who was behind him, but he could just make out how All Might was watching from a distance, eyes wide and stance deflated, and Danny didn’t care if he were to collapse on his knees right there and felt what he’d done. The Insomniac was also in a state of disbelief next to him, worry and grief(?) etched into his face, completely unresponsive to the shouts that were coming from behind Danny.

Bowie, then.

It took a few more seconds until a small old lady hurried out of the crowd, her steps hurried and determined as she marched towards them. _Him_. He tried to rasp out something, to leave him alone, to let him be, he would be fine, really, just give him a second or a few hundred while they were at it, but his voice cracked and there was a dry and sharp feeling in his throat, and he couldn’t.

Danny had to watch, unable to do anything, as Bowie and the lady talked frantically above behind his head before a wave of absolute exhaustion overtook him and he passed out.


End file.
